cpu upgrade to a SN41G2

HI,
As a programmer who has never got into the hardware side of computing
I would like to ask a coiuple of questions here.

I have just bought a SN41G2 with a socket A athlon xp 2600+ chip and
would like to give it a bit more life by upgrading the cpu.
I understand from my basic research that as a maximum I could put a
athlon xp barton 3000+ into a socket a board. Is that right ?

And my next question is - Would you recommend a complete beginner to
be able to swap the cpus ?

The specs are below

Regards
Rob

Mainboard
Shuttle FN41, Shuttle form factor, proprietary design for SN41G2
chipset: NVIDIA nForce2 (Crush 18G)
Award V6.0PG BIOS, 4MBit flash memory
with hardware monitoring and ACPI power management functions
dimensions: 25.4 x 18.5 cm

Power supply unit
200 Watt mini PSU, supports 115/230V
connectors: 20-pin ATX, 4-pin ATX12V

Processor support
Socket A supports AMD Athlon XP und Duron processors
at 333, 266 oder 200 FSB, supports Sempron,
supports Burn Proof CPU protection for Athlon XP

Memory support
2 x 184 pin slots, supports Dual Channel
supports PC3200/2700/2100/1600 (DDR400/333/266/200) DDR SDRAM memory
up to a total size of 2GB
Caution: DDR400 is only supported in conjunction with an additional
(plugged-in) AGP-graphics card
no support of buffered or ECC-modules

"robertpayneemail**at**googlemail.com" <robert_payne.DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote
in message news:1187598069.211602.101470@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> HI,
> As a programmer who has never got into the hardware side of computing
> I would like to ask a coiuple of questions here.
>
> I have just bought a SN41G2 with a socket A athlon xp 2600+ chip and
> would like to give it a bit more life by upgrading the cpu.
> I understand from my basic research that as a maximum I could put a
> athlon xp barton 3000+ into a socket a board. Is that right ?
>
> And my next question is - Would you recommend a complete beginner to
> be able to swap the cpus ?
>
> The specs are below
>
> Regards
> Rob
>
> Mainboard
> Shuttle FN41, Shuttle form factor, proprietary design for SN41G2
> chipset: NVIDIA nForce2 (Crush 18G)
> Award V6.0PG BIOS, 4MBit flash memory
> with hardware monitoring and ACPI power management functions
> dimensions: 25.4 x 18.5 cm
>
> Power supply unit
> 200 Watt mini PSU, supports 115/230V
> connectors: 20-pin ATX, 4-pin ATX12V
>
> Processor support
> Socket A supports AMD Athlon XP und Duron processors
> at 333, 266 oder 200 FSB, supports Sempron,
> supports Burn Proof CPU protection for Athlon XP
>
> Memory support
> 2 x 184 pin slots, supports Dual Channel
> supports PC3200/2700/2100/1600 (DDR400/333/266/200) DDR SDRAM memory
> up to a total size of 2GB
> Caution: DDR400 is only supported in conjunction with an additional
> (plugged-in) AGP-graphics card
> no support of buffered or ECC-modules
>

Not too difficult.
Usual rider here that it is done at your own risk.
I am not responsible for any disasters that may arise.
Do you have the manual ?

You have to remove the heatsink and clean it. Removing any old thermal
paste.
Make sure the new CPU is clean on top of the chip.
Swap them over, paying heed to anti static measures.
Add a small amount of thermal paste to the top of the new CPU chip. The
paste
is there to fill the small gaps due to manufacturing imperfections in
the surfaces.
Replace the heatsink taking great care not to tighten one edge more than
another.
It is easy to crack one edge if the heatsink is not tightened on all
sides at the same
time.

I'd clear the CMOS.
Then adjust the BIOS settings if needed to get the most out of the CPU.

First use Memtest to make sure the CPU & memory do not have issues.
One complete pass.

Then use motherboard monitor to check the CPU temperature and run
Prime95
torture test overnight. Make sure the CPU temp does not go over 60C and
no
errors are returned.

If that works then you are away.

One further point about those Shuttles.
I built about 8 of them 3-4 years ago.
I've since replaced 6 of their PSUs.
I expect to replace the others soon.
It is the capacitor problem, swelling & leakage.

Eric

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